I don't care one bit about the fate of prequel characters

Somehow Lucas milked every second of performance out of the likes of Porkins and Biggs in ANH back in 1977, to the point where you're actually torn up about their violent deaths even though you've only known them for a couple of hectic minutes.

I'm watching "Revenge of the Sith" tonight on PPV for the second time (I also watched it on opening night). Lucas had three films to nurture our respect and admiration for the Jedi. And yet as they're being offed by Anakin et. al., I can't manage anything more than an emotional shrug. After three films I honestly still don't care about these characters.

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The Order 66-scene has much more impact on me (especially the Youngling-scene) than the rebel pilots dying in ANH. One death that I couldn't be torn up about was Mace Windu's. For some reason, I just find his screams after Anakin cuts off his hand funny. That kinda hurts the drama. But I admit that one of the main factors that makes the Order 66-scene so touching for me is John Williams' music. The death scenes themselves would probably not be that difficult to cope with if the "Anakin's Beatrayal"-theme hadn't been there.

"The things that stick in my mind and make me laugh were, like, memos worried about whether or not the Wookie should have pants. They're looking at this thing and saying, "Couldn't he have some lederhosen?" This is great. Of all the things to worry about, the Wookie has no pants." -Mark Hamill

"The things that stick in my mind and make me laugh were, like, memos worried about whether or not the Wookie should have pants. They're looking at this thing and saying, "Couldn't he have some lederhosen?" This is great. Of all the things to worry about, the Wookie has no pants." -Mark Hamill

Not care? I was happy when the Jedi were wiped out. But then, I have this thing about fanatical cults that brainwash children to be ascetic warriors obedient to an unelected oligarchy. That's just me; YMMV.

Yeah, I don't see how someone couldn't be emotionally affected by ROTS. Someone would have to have a cold heart not to care about the characters at moments like order 66, whemn Mace dies, when you see Yoda drop his walking stick in mental pain, when Vader nearly burns to death on the side of the lava river, etc. I mean, it made me cry the first time I saw it in the theater.

I think caring for characters is all up to the viewer in the end, but other than the quality of the movies, the charcters were the biggest failings of the PT.

The biggest mistake by Lucas was making 2 different Anakins because of the age jump. He is the reason we are watching these three movies, and when you want us to follow a boy in TPM, knowing that there will be a new actor to play Anakin for the next two, it is hard to invest your likings in him.

So for years fans wanted to know who Darth Vader as a human really was, and now you were asking us to like or love two different actors? To me any actor that is cast is always hit or miss, sometimes they can be dead on with the public, sometimes they revolt cause it is a bad choice.

I never truly cared for Anakin and Padme through the PT, and if the viewer can't care, you won't feel the tragedy that bestows them in ROTS. Now for fans that cared for them, ROTS is a powerful movie for them, but so many fans I know didn't either love or like the two main leads for many reasons.

We didn't get 3 movies of them. Because of Anakins age with starting the PT, the grownup Anakin that turns to Vader is only seen in 2 movies, and to me you lose that trilogy characters arc. Sometimes it takes one movie just to get to know the actor, and then the second they can establish themselves and find their footing, and the third movie really shine.

To me Hayden, although Lucas intentionally wanted it this way, was whiny and in the end unlikable in AOTC. I think he was much better in ROTS, but in some ways it was too late. If we had 3 movies of Hayden, the backlash of AOTC, and his unlikability wouldn't have been as bad.

Another failing for me personaly was the chemistry between the characters and mostly Hayden/Natalie. The romance just came across as forced, and again I go back to throwing it all into AOTC, instead of really developing it in TPM, and then let it drive the story for AOTC & ROTS.

To me either you have chemistry in movies or you don't, there isn't a button that clicks on when you yell action. Though I don't love Titanic, DiCaprio & Winslet had great chemistry, Cruise & Zellwegger had great chemistry in Jerry Maguire, and Crystal & Meg Ryan had great chemistry in When Harry Met Sally. There is no formula, you just put the two leads together and cross your fingers.

So, my biggest failing and why Lucas failed for me is at the end of ROTS, I should have been more emotional when the characters we followed for 3 movies all went south. Mace flew out of a window, ahh, I didn't really care, but he is still great in Pulp Fiction. The jedi were getting extinguished in Order 66, which was actually done well in the montage, but did I really know any of those jedi except the conehead guy? Padme loses the will to live? Wasn't she this strong willed women who just gave birth? And finally Anakin laying there legless burning up, I should have been in tears, and I was like thank god, put him out of his misery Kenobi! Kenobi was the only who really tugged at me at the end when he was yelling at Anakin, "You were my brother, Anakin." "You were the chosen one!" That gave me goosebumps, because Kenobi was the one true character you follow for three movies, and there no contradictory character hicups like that senator who lost the will to live. Kenobi was the one real character to me in the PT.

So again, I am not criticizing anyone for getting emotional in ROTS, to each his own, but for me Lucas failed cause there were some heavy moments at the end of ROTS that should have moved me, and unfortunately they didn't.

That to me is the biggest failure of the PT, in the end it is always about the characters.

It made me well up too.Except it wasn't tears or emotion welling up from within.And it wasn't coming from my heart, it was actually closer to the stomach.I do believe it was my lunch...and if that movie had been any longer I am p[ositive I would have lost it in an explosion of nauseous fury.

And the characters in the PT did suckLucas should have gottens ome REAL writer to do his work.

Originally posted by: AdamwankenobiYeah, I don't see how someone couldn't be emotionally affected by ROTS. Someone would have to have a cold heart not to care about the characters at moments like order 66, whemn Mace dies, when you see Yoda drop his walking stick in mental pain, when Vader nearly burns to death on the side of the lava river, etc. I mean, it made me cry the first time I saw it in the theater.

I felt a little sad the first couple of times through Order 66 especially for Yoda when he drops his cane, but I didnt feel a thing for Anakin or Padme, though a little for Obi Wan maybe, though i thought the actual ending and the montage was good.

I find the Order66 scenes really well done. The music, of course (thanks John Williams!), is really touching, and the way that the Jedi are wiped out (Clones under their command, killing them from behind) is really sad. Watching extremely powerfull characters being killed by cowards has touched me.I was waiting to see that from the very begining of the PT and, even if it doesn't take place like the way I was imagining it, I think it's one of the best parts of ROTS.

But, well, I must say that I don't really like Aayla Secura's death just cause of the Amy Allen acting: she has no expression, and fall down really too fastly IMO...Kit Fisto and the two other Jedi are also killed really too rapidly and too easily by Palpatine. Too bad...

Originally posted by: COSo, my biggest failing and why Lucas failed for me is at the end of ROTS, I should have been more emotional when the characters we followed for 3 movies all went south. Mace flew out of a window, ahh, I didn't really care, but he is still great in Pulp Fiction. The jedi were getting extinguished in Order 66, which was actually done well in the montage, but did I really know any of those jedi except the conehead guy? Padme loses the will to live? Wasn't she this strong willed women who just gave birth? And finally Anakin laying there legless burning up, I should have been in tears, and I was like thank god, put him out of his misery Kenobi! Kenobi was the only who really tugged at me at the end when he was yelling at Anakin, "You were my brother, Anakin." "You were the chosen one!" That gave me goosebumps, because Kenobi was the one true character you follow for three movies, and there no contradictory character hicups like that senator who lost the will to live. Kenobi was the one real character to me in the PT.

So again, I am not criticizing anyone for getting emotional in ROTS, to each his own, but for me Lucas failed cause there were some heavy moments at the end of ROTS that should have moved me, and unfortunately they didn't.

That to me is the biggest failure of the PT, in the end it is always about the characters.

Originally posted by: Mr BungleI felt a little sad the first couple of times through Order 66 especially for Yoda when he drops his cane, but I didnt feel a thing for Anakin or Padme, though a little for Obi Wan maybe, though i thought the actual ending and the montage was good.

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Mr. Bungle, I bet we were effected by the same things in the montage, nostalgia parts that tied to the OT, and the PT shouldn't have relied on this to affect us. Anakin and Padme should have been the parts that effected us the most, with her dying and Anakin being resulted to wearing a suit all their life, that was the reason for the PT, but the moments that we felt worked, bringing Leia to Alderran, and bringing Luke to Tatooine was there to just to show the viewer seeing it 1-6 where the future of the new characters are headed, not to have us feel nostalgic.

Again, it is sad, cause there are times that really work for me in the PT, the ones that tie into the OT, but that proves its failure in the end, cause it shouldn't rely on the OT , with the exception of Yoda, every character is different than they were in the OT. Kenobi is younger, and very different, The Emperor is more of a politician, and Vader isn't in the suit yet. The PT stars of the show were Padme & Anakin and it seems like most of us liked the ending cause it showed Luke & Leia at their foster homes, in the end if thats what worked for us, than Lucas really failed.

Yeah, I did feel more for O.T characters such as Yoda and Kenobi, and seeing the fates of the characters in the montage, I just didnt find Anakin likable and didnt feel for him, and felt he got what he deserved, which is not the intention im sure. and the way Padme died didnt make feel sad i was just like oh well!! shes dead, now if Anakin had killed her it would have much better and may have felt more emotion

The worst part of the ending, was the fact that I didn't read any spoilers, I was waiting for Padme to go into hiding with Leia, as per Luke/Leia's conversation in ROTJ when Leia said, "She died while I was very young."

When she died, I was like WTF? So I started searching for answers, maybe Leia was born first, my friend said nope. Well it was Leia that she held right? Nope, she touched Luke. Than how the hell does Leia remember Padme? Then I started reading on the internet Force memories.............and that is when I really disliked that scene even more.

Lucas could have made a powerful scene, where Yoda and Kenobi confront Padme and tell her she must give up one child just in case Vader or The Emperor find her just to keep one baby safe. You could then have this ultra dramatic scene where she chooses Leia, and as Kenobi takes Luke, and not telling where, Leia could be crying hysterically as they take her baby, but deep down she knows its the best decision. You could have Bail holding her back like the movie 'Sophies Choice' and that would have been just as dramatic.

The ending montage could have had Vader on The Imperial Ship next to Tarkin & Emperor, Padme holding Leia on Alderan as beautiful, but sad as Leia described in ROTJ, and Owen & Beru holding up Luke on Tatooine, that way everything makes sense, and you can still have the drama, but Lucas chose to change the story from 1983, that is why many oldtimers get mad.

i think Lucasisanarcisisct is completely correct, and made a great point about Biggs and Porkins, and the now failing talents of lucas. The only part of the entire trilogies that made me get emotionally involved at all was the end of ROTS when obi-wan gives luke to owen, and that just because of the direct tie in to the OOT, it was moving to some extent, but didnt make up for the previous 7 hours of garbage.

As for Leia's birth, don't forget that just after she has given birth to Leia, the scene cuts away to Anakin turning into Vader. That's at least a 20 second chunk where we don't know what happens between Leia and Padme. I'm sure she talked to her, but I'm clueless as to why Lucas decided not to show it. Actually, I'm not. It's probably because Luke is the most important of them and because it would probably be repetive to have her talk to both babies. So, she talked to her, but we don't see it. Works good enough for me.

"The things that stick in my mind and make me laugh were, like, memos worried about whether or not the Wookie should have pants. They're looking at this thing and saying, "Couldn't he have some lederhosen?" This is great. Of all the things to worry about, the Wookie has no pants." -Mark Hamill

Originally posted by: Mr BungleI felt a little sad the first couple of times through Order 66 especially for Yoda when he drops his cane, but I didnt feel a thing for Anakin or Padme, though a little for Obi Wan maybe, though i thought the actual ending and the montage was good.

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Mr. Bungle, I bet we were effected by the same things in the montage, nostalgia parts that tied to the OT, and the PT shouldn't have relied on this to affect us. Anakin and Padme should have been the parts that effected us the most, with her dying and Anakin being resulted to wearing a suit all their life, that was the reason for the PT, but the moments that we felt worked, bringing Leia to Alderran, and bringing Luke to Tatooine was there to just to show the viewer seeing it 1-6 where the future of the new characters are headed, not to have us feel nostalgic.

Again, it is sad, cause there are times that really work for me in the PT, the ones that tie into the OT, but that proves its failure in the end, cause it shouldn't rely on the OT , with the exception of Yoda, every character is different than they were in the OT. Kenobi is younger, and very different, The Emperor is more of a politician, and Vader isn't in the suit yet. The PT stars of the show were Padme & Anakin and it seems like most of us liked the ending cause it showed Luke & Leia at their foster homes, in the end if thats what worked for us, than Lucas really failed.

Yeah, I agree. But still, none of us saw ROTS through the eyes of someone who had only previously seen TPM and AOTC. I'm curious to see how that would turn out. I'm not entirely convinced that they wouldn't care about the characters.

Me and my friends watched the other two prequels before going to the premiere - made ROTS an even bigger disappointment because of the "three stooges droid army" and general "number 5 alive" grievous, plus all the srewed up make up and design concepts and the flip-flop style turn of Anakin. The dialogue between Anakin and Obi-Wan and Anakin and Palpatine were the highlights of the film.

It was disappointing because Lucas could have done so much better, but he didn't because he didn't have to - he fully depended on the commercial momentum the OT still had. Lazy bastard.

Originally posted by: Master Sifo-Dyashe didn't because he didn't have to - he fully depended on the commercial momentum the OT still had. Lazy bastard.

Well, I'm not sure of that.

Of course, he doesn't have the talent he had during the OT anymore (I'm just talking about his "talent" concerning SW, not future non-SW projects, we'll see for that...), and the magic that was in the OT doesn't work in the PT, ok.

But, sorry, I really think that he believes hard (and work hard) in his movies. The term "lazy" is really not appropriate, especially when we see the amount of work in the making of a SW movie...

Concerning the term "bastard", well, I'm really sorry to hear so many people having no respect. Hey, GL doesn't owe you anything, he makes his movies as he want to. That is. If you don't like it, ok, it's you're right, but please stop with insults...

Originally posted by: AdamwankenobiBut still, none of us saw ROTS through the eyes of someone who had only previously seen TPM and AOTC. I'm curious to see how that would turn out. I'm not entirely convinced that they wouldn't care about the characters.

I realize this is anecdotal stuff, but I have a friend whose 4 year old son has gone crazy for Star Wars. His father decided he wasn't going to "ruin" the prequels for him, so he just let the kid decide for himself what he enjoyed about the Star Wars universe. He bought him all of the movies and left him alone about it.

To make a long story short, this 4 year old kid, for whatever reason, is disinterested in the prequels. He buys all of the original trilogy action figures, watches Episodes IV-VI constantly, and always goes on and on about the adventures of Luke, Han, and Leia. He gets bored watching the prequels and often stops the DVD player midway through to pop in one of the original films again.

The point of this story is that people love good movies, young or old. I think the notion is overplayed that the prequels are viewed differently because haven't been given a fair shake by curmudgeonly old fans of the originals. I'd be surprised if young fans of the prequels carry on their love of the movies into their twenties, thirties, and forties the way that OT fans have all these years after IV, V, and VI were released. Indeed, I think the young fans will grow disinterested in the prequels in a few years (if they haven't already), and if they really are given the choice between the prequels and OOT, they will prefer the OOT.